Sunbow Productions
Sunbow Entertainment was an animation studio, founded in 1980 and owned until 1998 by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York City and in the United States. Griffin-Bacal's first animations were animated commercials for Hasbro's G.I. Joe toy line. The success of the animated commercials led partners Tom Griffin and Joe Bacal to form Sunbow Productions. Due to their close working relationship with Hasbro, Sunbow came to be recognized as the toy giant's unofficial television arm. Company overview Sunbow is noted for many cartoons aired during the 1980s. Most of their work was co-produced with Marvel Productions. Although it is not limited to Hasbro's various toy lines its reputation is tied to the cartoon series tied to them. Its animation was initially produced by the Japanese animation studio Toei Animation, supplemented by the South Korean animation studio AKOM later on. By 1987, most of Hasbro's toy lines were losing money and internal struggles forced the company to end popular series such as G.I. Joe and Transformers. Two of Sunbow's animated movies, The Transformers: The Movie and My Little Pony: The Movie, flopped at the box office, forcing a third project, G.I. Joe: The Movie, to be released directly to video. Sunbow also worked with TMS Entertainment with Hasbro's Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, and one episode of season 3 of The Transformers, "Call of The Primitives". In a bid to produce original material, Sunbow produced several cartoons through the early 1990s such as The Tick and Conan the Adventurer. Only The Tick managed to gain popularity and critical acclaim. On May 4, 1998, Sony Wonder, a division of Sony Music bought Sunbow Productions[1] and it was later bought by TV-Loonland on October 3, 2000, as well as Sony Wonder's television business assets,[2][3] which then bought Metrodome Distribution, who had the European rights to the Sunbow catalogue. Previously, Rhino Entertainment owned the U.S. home video distribution rights to the Sunbow catalogue. The rights then changed hands to Sony Wonder with its acquisition of the catalogue. However, Sony Wonder was shut down in March 2007.[4] On June 20, 2007, it was announced that Sony Wonder had been moved into Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which at the time owned the U.S. rights to the Sunbow catalogue.[5][6] On May 14, 2008, Hasbro announced that it had obtained the rights to all the Sunbow Productions animated series based on Hasbro properties. This includes Transformers, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, Jem and the Holograms, and many more.[7][8][9][10] The titles are currently managed as part of the Hasbro Studios library. TV-Loonland filed for bankruptcy in 2009.[11] Productions Television *''The Great Space Coaster'' (1981) (co-production with Metromedia Television) *''The Charmkins'' (1983) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' (1983) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra'' (1984) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Transformers'' (1984) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''G.I. Joe'' (1985) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Jem'' (1985) (co-production with Marvel Productions)[12] *''Super Sunday'' (1985) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Robotix'' (1985) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines'' (1985) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''The GLO Friends Save Christmas'' (1985) *''Potato Head Kids'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''MoonDreamers'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''The Glo Friends'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Inhumanoids'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Robotix'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''My Little Pony 'n Friends'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Transformers: Five Faces of Darkness'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions and AKOM) *''Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light'' (1987) (co-production with TMS Entertainment) *''Transformers: The Return of Optimus Prime'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Transformers: The Rebirth'' (1987) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars'' (1991) (co-production with IDDH, Abrams/Gentile Entertainment and Continuity Comics) *''My Little Pony Tales'' (1992) (co-production with Graz Entertainment) *''Conan the Adventurer'' (1992) (co-production with Graz Entertainment) *''Conan and the Young Warriors'' (1994) (co-production with Graz Entertainment *''Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles'' (1994) (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero spin-off) (co-production with Graz Entertainment) *''The Tick'' (1994-1995) (co-production with Graz Entertainment and Fox Children's Productions *''The Mask: The Animated Series'' (1995-1997) (Co-Production with Film Roman, Dark Horse Entertainment and New Line Television) *''Littlest Pet Shop'' (1995) *''G.I. Joe Extreme'' (1995) (Co-Production with Graz Entertainment and Gunther-Wahl Productions, inc.) *''Salty's Lighthouse'' (1997) *''Fat Dog Mendoza'' (1998) *''The Brothers Flub'' (1999) *''Generation O!'' (2000) *''The Cramp Twins'' (2001) Films *''The Transformers: The Movie'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''My Little Pony: The Movie'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) *''Inhumanoids: The Movie'' (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions) (Direct-to Video) *''G.I. Joe: The Movie'' (1987) (co-production with Marvel Productions) (Direct-to Video) Category:Production